How to make chicken bone broth

I drink bone broth, chicken or beef, everyday. It makes me feel nourished. It makes me feel strong and it makes me feel good immediately. It's chalk full of minerals and, if you make it just right, gelatin. Here's how I make it.

Chicken broth

1 organic chicken carcass (I throw skin and neck in too - preferably a pastured hen but if you can just get organic that will suffice, conventionally raised hens/grocery store regulars are fed arsenic to speed growth, which in humans, is stored in most tissues especially bone marrow, so it's not that much of a stretch to think it's stored in the marrow of other animals as well and may leech into the broth and I don't want that in my soup but it's your choice, I'm just here to inform)
2 trotters (these are pigs feet - they ensure that the broth gels but if you can't find them don't worry about it but I can't tell you how hit or miss it is without them. If you can get your broth to gel everytime without them please let me know, I'll kiss your feet if you tell me your secret!!)
4-5 stalks of celery chopped roughly
4-5 carrots chopped roughly
2 onions you guessed it, chopped roughly
4 garlic cloves (don't bother dicing or anything as you will be straining the broth later)
5-6 whole peppercorns
herb mixture (I use a tea ball and add about 2 tsps each of dried thyme, rosemary, oregano - you could also get fancy and make a bouquet garni)
2 tbsps raw apple cider vinegar (the acid really breaks down the bones so more minerals are available in the liquid)

Now the hard part, throw everything into a pressure cooker, a crockpot/slow cooker or stock pot on the stove. Fill up with water just past the height of the bones. If you have a crockpot, slow cooker or are cooking it on the stove, turn it on low (high on the stove and then low once boiled) and leave it for ohhhh, somewhere between 12 to 24 hours. Seriously. I used to do this every week or so until I discovered the miracle of a pressure cooker. An electric one mind you, I'm not stupid enough to trust myself with utilizing a stove top model, especially since I need to stay alive enough to see my grandkids have babies. If, however, if you have a pressure cooker you can press the soup button, set the time for 90 minutes and your done! This is the pressure cooker that I have and adore!!

Strain the broth through a fine meshed strainer and voila, you have a gorgeous golden elixir. I cannot tell you how awesome it is to be able to drink broth the same day you prepare it. Add salt to taste later because you may just want to sip on it or you may want to use it for soup and your salt preference may differ. Also the more you simmer it, the saltier it will get so I never salt until I'm ready to use it.

Drink daily for health!

I'll follow up in the next few days with my recipe for beef bone broth. I find that chicken broth tastes better to me but beef broth has a greater impact on my health.

::Robyn